Congratulations to the US government and the US media....you've now managed to scare the piss out of the american public and for the most part they now avoid coming to Mexico. The current drug cartel problems occur mostly along a narrow strip of the US Mexico border and unless you are a drug cartel member or a Mexican police officer you have nothing to worry about, and in my opinion are as safe here as you are are in the US....go pick up a newspaper and see how many innocent americans were killed in your city yesterday.
Last night as we strolled downtown Ensenada we were the only americans (gringos) to be seen, the mexican people were VERY happy to see us, we were given happy hour drink deals (2 for 1) without being happy hour, we were given good advice about a great mexican beer (Indio), and every time we started to cross a street the drivers would slam on their brakes and wave us across.
As we were standing in Hussongs last night and I was looking around at all the friendly mexican people I thought to myself....you know this place is actually a lot nicer WITHOUT all the obnoxious americans messing it up....in my opinion.

Finally made it to Mexico, what a beautiful sail (motor sail) we had down the coast, Rich, Lee and myself dropped my mooring line in Coronado at 0200 (2AM) yesterday and we were tied up at our slip at the Marina Coral at 1430 (2:30 PM). The Marina Coral is a really cool little marina, we were greeted by a local lady, Alice, who invited us over to her boat to start our New Years celebrating, we had some nice Hors d'oeuvres, I stepped on her cat (sorry) and we headed off to Hussongs Cantina (pic) to continue our New Years celebrating. OK so when you've been up since 2 in the morning your New Years celebrating doesn't last very long.....we were back on Si Bon by 2100 (9 PM) and fast asleep soon after. Today we will continue our exploring of Ensenada and hopefully can stay awake past dinner time.

Everyone rolls their eyes when you tell them that you're going to your ex-wife and her husbands house(pic) for Christmas...But I have a REALLY small family and she has a REALLY big family, so it only makes sense that instead of dragging the kids all over town we just suck it up and do Christmas all together...besides for the most part we get along, that's one reason our kids turned out so well. Never the less other people still seem to have a problem with it. You should have seen the year Gilbert and I co-coached the kids soccer team, it took the other parents most of the year to get use to the idea.
My next trip to Ensenada is approaching fast and I am once again glued to the weather forecasts (guesses), right at this moment it looks good for leaving on the 31st at around 0200 and being at the Marina Coral at around 1600 just in time for a Mexican New Years. There are a couple of concerns besides the weather; 1. Mexican pangas (small fishing boats) loaded with illegal migrant workers, unlit and traveling at a high rate of speed. 2. Aquaculture pens, also unlit and not marked on charts. Nether one of these things would be good to come in contact with, my plan is to reach the US Mexico border at first light so as to be able to spot either one of the above...the only thing that could throw a stick in the spokes is if we get heavy fog, in that case we may change plans and head in a different direction. Which ever way we go I am now busy in preparation stage and excited to get going....wherever that may be.

thanks for coming over and making it easier on us... you should blog about the awesome present your oldest daughter got you ;)

12/30/2010 | Catherine Buchanan

Proves you are truly an easy going guy. Practical too. Have fun in Ensenada, Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas

Steve12/25/2010, Coronado

Those that know me know that I am VERY spiritual....I pray before I get up in the morning...I pray before I eat...I pray before I go to bed at night and I pray many other times throughout the day, however I rarely go to church, I like to say I'm a three times a year guy. Well one of those times is Christmas and last night I went to the mega church The Rock (pic) with my two daughters and my son-in-law. The pastor , Miles McPherson (former SD Charger), always has a great message and presents it in an entertaining way. I hope that as we all go about our busy days today we stop to think about the real reason for this day, I hope we embrace our family and friends and give thanks to Jesus Christ for all that we have in our lives.
MERRY CHRISTMAS...now go open your presents.

soo much fun to go with you pops!! and a wonderful message indeed... jesus lives :)

Home...finally

Steve/Sunny12/24/2010, Coronado

Ok...so by now everyone has heard about the great So Cal floods of 2010...yes it rained in San Diego for a whole week almost non-stop, there were two days that we received over 2 inches within a 24 hour period...can you imagine that??? As luck would have it I left for Park City about an hour before it started to rain....I was gone all weekend and when I came back I took one look at the bay and called my good friends Kim & Paul to see if I could seek shelter from the storm...since Kim and Paul were escaping the storm in Hawaii, they were happy to offer me their comfortable home to seek refuge. Yesterday the clouds parted and I was able to return home to Si Bon. As they say "there's no place like home", My boat break was MUCH longer than I had planned...but that's life on a boat, I was able to revert to my old ways of reading the newspaper every morning (so negative) and having 100 TV channels to watch and not finding anything to watch! I've slid back into boat life and am amazed it how easy day to day things are becoming, things that use to take so much effort and thought are now becoming more second nature. My next mini cruise is to Ensenada with my friend Rich and another guy named Gary whom I haven't met yet. We will be leaving on the 31st at about 0300 and staying down for about 4-5 days. Of course all times and places are subject to change for any number of reasons.

awesome picture and i am really glad you didnt float away in the floods hahaha

Ski Blog

Steve/snowing12/19/2010, Park City, Utah

So I know you're saying...what's a ski dude doing in a sailing blog? Most cruisers will tell you that in order to remain sane living on a sailboat that you must get off the boat periodically and get away, it's the only way you'll last long term. When my best ski buddy Russ Carlson, who at 67 will out ski most men half his age (except me of course), called me and invited me up to his beautiful Park City condo, it was just to good to pass up. I flew up to Utah on Friday and Russ and I skied most of the day Saturday, and a good part of the day today. Russ's condo is on historic Main Street right in the heart of Park City, we can walk to the lift, the restaurants and of course the bars. It's been snowing most of the time I've been here and after shaking off the rust from not skiing last season, Russ and I carved up the famous Utah powder on nearly empty runs. Skiing is one of my passions and although this has been a great little boat break, I'll be headed home in the morning and am looking forward to being back home on Si Bon.